Lack of funding forces Merefest cancellation for 2018

Lack of funding forces Merefest cancellation for 2018

Organisations Shropshire Wildlife Trust and Meres and Mosses has come to the decision that Merefest will not be running this year.

The popular family event which started in 2013 has served the community with fun-filled days full of live bands, water zorbs, archery, canoeing and a twilight zone in the evening.

Previously funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the festival grew each year but funding ran out.

The future deemed uncertain after visitors had to pay a fee of £3 for entrance to last years event. With officials struggling to gain funding and the charge not welcomed by visitors as well as low ticket sales the final decision has been made not to run the event his year.

Luke Neal, festival organiser, said: "Merefest was a project output by The Meres and Moses Landscape Partnership Scheme. The first event saw 1,500 people and it grew from there. The event peaked last year with only between 3,000 and 4,000 people attending. We were hoping when it was the end of the project it would be able to fund itself but we lost funding. This is down to a couple of reasons, the weather wasn't great and we decided to trial selling tickets. It was found that about 1,000 people came into the event without paying. The Mere Advisory Group who oversee the mere took part in a vote afterwards and said we couldn't manage the gates to make sure people paid. That coupled with the loss of funding made us come to this decision.

"I think it was a fantastic event and a lot of people are sad to see it go. I'm not sure if we could crowdfund for the event either, for a quality event like this we are looking at £40,000 to £50,000 to cover the costs of everything. We have learnt a huge amount from this experience.

"One thing that might be possible is the Scrapyard Challenge we've taken on in Whixall which is more focused on habitat. It might be possible to do something on this site but unless a donor can step forward with £40,000 I don't see how we could do it in Ellesmere.

"On the plus side it started as a small event and continued for five years. I would like to give our thanks to our business sponsors and the Heritage Lottery Fund for supporting us."

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